My Barefoot Friend - Hot Docs Selection 2011
Ten thousand rickshaws are still pulled by hand in Kolkata. Running barefoot through the chaotic streets, 55-year-old Shallim’s dreams of escaping the desperate cycle of poverty fuel this poignant look at the pothole-filled ride of life.
My Barefoot Friend
Director: Seong-gyou Lee | South Korea | 81 min
After pulling a rickshaw through the chaotic streets of Kolkata (Calcutta) for 35 years, 55-year-old Shallim is close to achieving his dream: buying an auto rickshaw that will finally allow him to earn enough to build a house for his family back home in the poverty-ridden state of Bihar. Every day, through overwhelming smog, stifling heat and torrential rains, Shallim hauls customers and cargo across the city in his bare feet. He and his fellow rickshaw pullers are in danger of extinction, but they look after each other in the one-room apartment that six men share. When Shallim’s wife falls ill in their rural home, he is terrified for many reasons. Even the slightest setback can wipe out a lifetime of gruelling sacrifice and saving. Director Seong-Gyou Lee has been following Shallim for over a decade; their friendship imbues this engrossing human drama with sometimes shocking intimacy.
My Barefoot Friend will be featured at Hot Docs 2011, which is North America's largest documentary festival, running from April 28th to May 8th, 2011. The festival will be presenting over 200 films from more than 43 countries and welcoming hundreds of international filmmakers and industry delegates to Toronto.
Screen Times:
Tuesday, May 3rd – 9:45PM – The ROM, 100 Queen's Park
Thursday, May 5th – 9:30PM – TIFF Bell Lightbox 3, 350 King Street West
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